In recent times, the skyrocketing food prices in major cities across the country are being reported with devastating impacts on household budgets. Despite the increasing food prices leading to hunger and starvation among low income Nigerians, the National Bureau of Statistics says the country’s inflation rate has declined for the seventh consecutive month to 15.99 per cent in October from 16.36 per cent in September. The Statistician General of the Federation, Simon Harry who disclosed this in Abuja while presenting the details of the Consumer Price Index report for October contradicted the current economic realities in the country where the prices of food and services have been trending upwards. In a latest NBS report, the Statistician General said the inflation rate fell by 0.37 per cent on a month-on-month basis as the headline index increased by 0.98 percent in October 2021. He also disclosed that farm produce such as bread, cereals, cocoa, meat, coffee, tea and cocoa drove food inflation, which fell to 18.3 per cent in October from 19.57 percent in September. The series of insurgencies facing the country, especially in the Northern part and issue of insecurity in some states where most of the essential food items for the nation come from have also adversely contributed to the ill reports about the astronomic rise for a range of food materials.
